This study presents an overview of a civil engineering materials course curriculum at Carleton University developed by the authors. The curriculum aims to move away from traditional civil engineering materials courses, which focus heavily on concepts related to material science, and instead concentrate on concepts that are more relevant to today’s practicing civil engineers. The rationale, application, and analysis of the integration of these concepts through an advanced application of case-based and experiential learning is discussed. Central to this new course curriculum is a hands-on experiential learning activity on the construction and experimental testing of reinforced concrete beam specimens in lab sections of approximately 25 students. The goal of the lab is to provide students with a hands-on learning experience and use this as a tool to cover advanced topics related to civil engineering; for example, environmental sustainability and resilience. The assessment of the students’ understanding of the concepts taught in class were performed through the use of an anonymous questionnaire distributed at the end of the course and through traditional examination and assignments. Results of the survey were compared between classes who engaged in the advanced experiential learning laboratory and those who did not. The results demonstrate that after introducing experiential learning into the course curriculum, students were more likely to form an educated opinion on the potential sustainability of a material. Experiential learning is shown to be a valuable tool for engineering education that, when used efficiently, can seamlessly incorporate newly emerging engineering concepts to ensure that graduating students are equipped with the knowledge and tools they require to be competitive in the job market. The relation of the course to contemporary accreditation of Graduate attributes is discussed at length along with critical information regarding the effectiveness of balancing student engagement in STEM subjects.
SHIELDING EFFECTIVENESS TESTS OF LOW-COST CIVIL ENGINEERING MATERIALS IN A REVERBERATING CHAMBER
